Strong Start for Utes in Lake Placid

Sunday, January 4

Lake Placid, N.Y. / Mt. Van Hoevenberg

8 a.m.

University of Utah

10K Classic (I)

Photo by Matan Coll

1/4/2026 4:08 PM | Skiing

Results

Jayne and Laven win classic races as Utah leads RMISA Invitational

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The Utah Ski Team began the 2026 collegiate season on Sunday as Nordic members of the squad raced in 10K classic competitions at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. The interval start races were part of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships, with college results also being scored as part of the RMISA Invitational meet.

In the RMISA results, Erica Lavén and Zachary Jayne won their respective races, picking up where they left off in March with solid results at last year's NCAA Championships. Making his Utah debut, freshman Mons Melbye skied to a silver medal as Utah tallied three podiums on the day.

Overall, Utah totaled 202 points on the day to lead the six-team Nordic field. Alaska Anchorage is in second place (156), followed by Colorado (137), Montana State (128), Alaska Fairbanks (122) and Denver (97).

Director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt said, "It was a great start to the racing season for the team! Both the men and women crushed it today. It was great to see Erica back, Neve Gerard had her best finish and both Sofia Pedersen and Ally Wheeler had a great start to their collegiate careers. On the men's side, Zach was winning the (overall) race until the end and finished only 2.3 seconds from the win. Mons also had a great start to his Utah career."

The overall race fields—that is, the college and non-college skiers—were loaded with talented athletes including several looking to qualify for the Olympics. The women's field had over 300 athletes and over 400 competitors were in the men's event.

Women's Race
With top-five results from Erica Lavén (1^st), Neve Gerard (4^th) and Sofia Pedersen (5^th), Utah scored 100 points to win the women's race. Lavén was just a tenth of a second behind Colorado's Tilde Baangman after the first lap before turning on the jets on the second lap. She finished with a time of 29:14.4, good for a nine-second college win and second place in the overall race.

Gerard was in the top-five the entire race and clocked a 30:25.8. Pedersen scored in her Utah debut with a time of 30:27.9. Ally Wheeler was in ninth place after the opening lap and was able to climb up to seventh place in the final results, plus Selma Andersen took 14^th in her first race as a Utah Ute.

Gerard's result put her atop the junior podium, which is a qualifier for the Junior World Championships in March. Wheeler was second in the junior race.

Men's Race
Utah racked up a race-leading 102 points in the men's competition, with scoring coming from Zachary Jayne (1^st), Mons Melbye (2^nd) and Walker Hall (7^th). Jayne won the first lap by more than 21 seconds as both he and Melbye led the front pack for the entire race.

Jayne finished with a time of 25:31.2, with Melbye behind him at 25:55.3 while Hall's time of 26:26.5 earned key points for Utah. Max Kluck turned in an 11^th place result in his season debut and Carl Rune was 13^th to round out the Utah lineup.

For the overall U.S. podium, Jayne finished third, and Utah alumnus Luke Jager was second.

Next Up
Utah will race in 20K freestyle mass start races on Thursday, January 8. That race is again part of U.S. Nationals but will not be scored as part of the RMISA Invitational. Collegiately, individual results will count toward NCAA Championships qualification.

Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam. Download the Utah 360 app here.